Reviews for Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters
KIRKUS
Giles (Shattering Glass, 2002) here shows the same acute psychological observation and masterful sense of pacing of her sensational debut . . .teen readers will love having their preconceptions continually turned topsy-turvy, and will endlessly debate the tale's maddeningly ambiguous conclusion. Another winner.
Publisher's Weekly
As she did with her first novel, Shattering Glass, Giles once again proves that she knows intimately the workings of the adolescent mind. . .Unraveling the mystery of the girl's true identity keeps the pages turning, but the strength of the novel lies in the convincing interactions between Sunny, her parents and the impostor. Scenes of Sunny and her father tiptoeing around Sunny's emotionally fragile mother raise the stakes, and Sunny's decision to confront the intruder herself is the highlight.
The Bulletin For The Center of Children’s Books
Giles (author of the compelling drama Shattering Glass, BCCB 5/02) makes the most of Sunny's dysfunctional family and Sunny's complicated identity formation in the face of such misdirection ("When the real Jazz left for New York, I knew my place in the world for the first time ever"), and there's not only delicious suspense in the unfolding of the plot but also some effective emotional issues: since the returned Jazz is definitely an improved model, does Sunny perhaps want her to stay and be the sister Jazz never was? Echoes of Duncan's Summer of Fear provide a good indication of the likely readers-Duncan fans and those who relish a taut, suspenseful enigma will find themselves right at home here.
